LESSONS INTRODUCTION
Senior music editor Jason Sidwell introduces this month’s broad range of lessons.
More than a year has now passed since Covid-19 entered all our lives, changing pretty much everything we did before. From a music perspective, a gig, an open mic event, a recording or an exam were typical contexts for gauging musical enjoyment and development. All these are ‘outcome’ focused - you put in effort to realise a final payoff. Removing these processes and payoffs can easily result in declines of energy and purpose, so it’s down to the individual to create their own musical agenda. For some, it’s about ‘sleeping with the metronome’, focusing more time on tackling technique and theory chops. For others, it’s about learning, transcribing or memorising material that’s new, far removed from the joy or ‘meh’ of band songs. Whatever the scenario, if we care about music and guitar playing, a rebalance of how to take responsibility is required. A potential question raised through last year and this is; is it good or bad to place one’s music making solely on external stimulus with others? And what is an ideal ratio?
These are big questions best left to your own sensibilities, but what is simpler to consider is just how stimulating this issue is. You’ve already engaged with joyful sounding harmonics (p14), emotive ballad soloing with LA based guitarist, Alex Sill (p28), Pentatonic re-appropriating in Crossroads (p38) and a rewarding solo guitar arrangement of Mozart’s wonderful Romance Andante (p46).
If Blues is your persuasion, I will point you towards two wonderful Minor key solos in the style of BB King (p56), and richly phrased melodic lines in Bebop Substitution (p64). We know many readers love the zone where blues meets jazz and these two articles (plus Crossroads earlier on) are wonderfully fit for purpose. Of course, you may be a chops-hungry player so get straight to 30-Minute Lickbag (p54) to warm up, then onto Creative Rock (p72) for a full-on solo bristling with various technique approaches. We hope you thoroughly enjoy this issue and spend many hours being enthused, challenged and invigorated with the breadth of tuition on offer. Until we get out there playing again, keep happy, keep listening and keep engaged!